Ok, that's out there. :)
In July (the 26th to be exact) I joined a local gym, and started hitting it hard.
Since then I've lost 30 pounds, run a 5k and started training for a 10k distance.
Dana and I will be running an 8k in March and I cannot be more excited about it. :)
My thought on resolutions. Why set a goal for an entire year? That's hard. It even sounds hard. Intimidating.
What I've done? I bought a planner. A small one that fits into my purse and it goes wherever that purse goes, so pretty much anywhere I go it's there too.
When I first started going to the gym, the daycare at the gym required you to schedule your times ahead of time. There was limited space, so I scheduled the times for the boys a week in advance and their scheduled times went into my planner as a play date. Thinking of these gym visits as play dates meant that I was less likely to cancel or talk myself out of them.
Harrison, at that time, needed socialization outside of Dev and me so this solved that problem. Now Harrison loves his time away from me and at the daycare. The gym has since moved into a new facility and the daycare facility is much bigger. Of course, it helps that he plays with children that he's seen and gotten to know over these 6 months. Its so rewarding to see him coming into his own and not constantly bullying everyone. We recently have had several weeks (not in a row) of hit-free behavior!
So now that I've got my mothering need and aspect of my gym visits out of the way - I think I'll share what I did for me. I went to classes. A lot of them. I was afraid of the free weights (still kind of am) and the machines. Not to mention the treadmills and bikes. Yikes.
So I went to classes - every day. For about a month. Then I got bored. So I scaled down the classes to my favorites (Zumba and BodyFlow) and then started at the machines and treadmills. I joined one of the challenges that the gym was running in September to further motivate myself.
I was still using my planner to record what I was going to work on that day. One of the three major muscle groups plus the two classes I was still taking and the schedules for the kids daycare at the gym. It was very satisfying to see all of my work written down.
Then the new gym opened up! Yay for new stuff! New machines! So shiny and new. Wait - no more scheduling. How am I going to keep motivated? It really wasn't a concern though. I was hooked. I am addicted to the gym and my endorphin rush.
So November brought some hiccups because of the hospital stay that Dev had, but when I finally made back to my normal routine it was time to train for the 5k in December. I started recording even more information in my little planner. I also signed up with the Daily Mile. I wanted to show off my work.
Its so gratifying to see my pace times go work their way down. I also like tracking how many donuts I've burned. :)
So December brought another challenge, that I did win one week. I ran that 5k and while I was disappointed with how it was run, I was quite happy that I finally competed.
Now here's January. I'm training again. 11 miles this week. I did 3 yesterday, 3 is planned for tomorrow and then 5 on Saturday. Can't wait. I haven't run 11 miles in a week yet, my longest over a week was 8 miles. Yay for new distances!
Anyways, that's my gym story and my un-resolutions. I make goals on a weekly and monthly basis and I write them down. I set time limits for myself. I am accountable only to myself and I had to disappoint, but this was not a journey I did by myself. I started this journey with a friend and she was invaluable to my staying on this path. A path that I had wanted to start, but was to cowardly to do it by myself.
To all of you who are resolving to lose weight, my first suggestion - find a gym buddy or at least a gym cheerleader. Dana is my cheerleader and my friend is still my gym buddy. I'm lucky that I have two, but I would definitely find someone that can be your picker-upper when you want to quit or hurt to much to want to go back. Having those people make all the difference in the world. At least for me it did.
Good luck and happy new year all!
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